we only have 30 seconds for "end point." jenn you start. >> it takes two to tango, a dance metaphor, true as a theme for washington whether it comes to guns or resolving the debt limit. you need both parties to come together to make tough choices and tough decisions. lot of people are talking out there, we need some action. >> senator? >> i agree and listen, this is an interesting show, we saw americans live their lives wonderful examples, let answer

get these problems solved so people can go ahead and have a prosperous future. >> hallelujah is what i'm trying to say. debris with that. thank you. nice of you. "cnn newsroom" with carol costello right now. condition critical, hospitals take emergency measures to deal with a severe strain of flu and overflow of patients. plus -- >> shoot him again, shoot him. oh, no. >> moments of terror, a hero mother on the phone with her husband, while a burglar hunts down her family. hear the 911 tape as she hides in the attic with her 9-year-old twins. breaking his silence, lance armstrong agreeing to sit down with oprah winfrey. the downfall and the doping accusations, will we hear a confession from the once cycling great? and he climbed all the way to the top of a storm-soaked roller coaster to plant an american flag. later you'll hear why he did it

and what happened to him. "newsroom" starts now. good morning to you, thank you so much for being with us. i'm carols cou s coulcostello. we begin with a story that might be in your home, you don't know it or not, the outbreak of the flu, this year exceptionally early and unusually rampant. at least 43 states reports widespread cases and hospitals are starting to feel the strain, in chicago, jam packed, emergency rooms are telling ambulances to go elsewhere. wls reports at least six hospitals were forced to divert at rifles because their ers were overflowing with flu patients. the numbers suggest this could be the worst flu season in a decade. in allentown, pennsylvania, there's little doubt, lehigh valley hospital pitched a tent to treat the milder cases of the

flu. they can't cram all the patients into the emergency room. if you think you're safe because you've had the vaccine, think again. >> i came to work today and as the day went on i felt progressively worse. this is the worst, this is the worst, yeah, and i did get the flu shot and some of our other patients, too, that are testing positive did get the flu shot. >> the flu is spreading so fast and quickly that many schools in the central united states have had to close down, from michigan to tennessee, ailing teachers and bus drivers have left schools short-staffed, but this year's strain, severe strain, is more than just an inconvenience. it can be downright dangerous. across the country, the flu is being blamed for the deaths of at least 18 children. the government doesn't keep track of adult deaths blamed on the flu. more than 2,200 people have been sickened by the bug. so sick they've been admitted to the hospital. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us by phone from louisville, texas. we have you on the phone because we know you're working on a flu

story about kids. give us a preview. >> it's a terrible story of a completely healthy 17-year-old boy who got the flu, you know, kids get the flu, it happens, but it did not, he got very sick, very quickly and unfortunately, he ended up passing away, and this is what sometimes happens with kids. kids can look completely fine, and in less than 24 hours, or about 24 hours later that child is on a respirator in the intensive care unit, and a lot of these kids are just completely healthy kids with no underlying health problems and we don't know why most kids are okay with the flu. they're sick for a little while and get better. some of them die, we just don't know why. >> is it too late to get a flu vaccine to protect our kids, to protect ourselves? >> it isn't too late. that's one of two things i'll tell parents to do, to be empowered parents. this is so crucial. one, get your child the flu shot. we heard that people are still

getting the flu with the flu shot and that's absolutely true, that does happen but it decreases the chance that you or your child are going to get the flu if you get a flu shot. it is not too late. you can still get it. the second thing, and this one's harder, when your child has the flu, be really vigilant, subtle changes can mean your child will be one of the ones that crashes. if your child is very, very lethargic, for example, doesn't want to drink anything, doesn't want to do anything except sleep, that is a sign that perhaps your child is going into a scary time. >> elizabeth cohen thanks so much. you can see more about the dangers of the flu and how it can kill a healthy teenager on "the situation room" with wolf blitzer. the planning behind that colorado theater shooting that killed 12 people last year, as day three of james holmes' preliminary hearing begins this morning, investigators say the accused gunman and former college student started shopping

for guns more than two months before the july 20th shooting. nearly 6,300 rounds of ammunition, four guns, and two canisters of tear gas were all purchased online or in stores and holmes passed all appropriate background checks. he passed them all. casey wian joins us from outside the courthouse in centennial, colorado. the 911 tapes were played in court yesterday and to say they were emotional is an understatement. >> reporter: that's right, carol, there were 41 911 calls made the night of the shooting. prosecution played two of them in court yesterday. the first one they played was the very first 911 call that was made. it only lasted for 27 seconds. it was very difficult to hear what the 911 operator was saying, what the person who made the call from inside that theater was saying, but unmistakable, the sound of more than 30 gunshots within 27

seconds, hearing that tape, family members in the courtroom became very emotional, here's what the father of one victim had to say about that experience of listening to that call. >> it was awful. i mean, just any one of those shots could have been the one that killed alex and if it wasn't, it hurt somebody else or it killed, you know, one of the other people who we've become friends with. so it was horrific. >> reporter: the second 911 call that was played lasted much longer, four minutes. it was made by a 13-year-old girl, also from inside the theater, it was also very difficult to hear much of what was being said, because of the chaos, the screaming, the shouting, the crying. the little girl was trying to communicate with the 911 operator because two, she was there with two cousins, both of them had been shot. the 911 operator was trying to get her to perform cpr on her young cousin, who ended up dying. the little girl couldn't

understand what the 911 operator had to say. after four agonizing minutes, the little girl finally told the operator that the police were there, and he said, stay with the police, and she said thank you. that call then ended, very dramatic moment for those families of the victims in the courtroom yesterday, carol. >> casey wian reporting live for us this morning. from tense 911 calls in aurora to town halls across america, americans are making their voices heard on the issue of gun control. >> for you to sit there and try to limit and encourage people to limit our constitution is just appalling. >> as a gun owner and a hunter, i don't think they do us any good. i think it's a cloud over our heads and i don't think they should be on our communities and i don't think they should be on our streets. >> i know i'm going to get booed but when i listen to the leadership of the nra saying we need more guns in the schools, i could vomit. >> those kids might have been

alive if -- >> this meeting was in the city of vampa, california, wine country. many called for better access to mental health care as well. as you saw the debate over gun violence reaches far and wide from town halls to the white house. vice president joe biden's gun violence task force meeting face-to-face this week with the national rifle association, the nra. vice president's team also going to sit down with top executives in the entertainment industry and the video game industry. retail giant walmart was also invited but walmart is not going to show up. in a statement walmart said "we were invited to attend the meeting on thursday, and we had scheduling conflicts. we're going to continue to stay engaged in this topic going forward." cnn reached out to walmart this morning, and it said, not attending the meeting "should not be interpreted as a slight

or a diss." walmart would not confirm reports they're the largest retailer of the world's guns and ammunition, even though they had $44 billion in total sales last year alone. christine romans joins us now, so i don't know, it's mind boggling no one from walmart would bother to go to this meeting and that they won't release their sales figures on guns, why? what's the reason behind that? >> let me take the second part of that first. they don't release their product breakouts for any individual category, they will not release how many guns or how many ammo they sell every year but it's clear, carol, they are a world leader in selling everything, so industry analysts say they are likely the largest seller of guns and ammunition in the country. now that's why walmart is a stakeholder in the discussion about the conversation going forward about gun control. in terms of why they're not at the meeting tooled at the vice president's office, walmart spokesman telling me they talked to the vice president's office,

the staff earlier this week, they had monthly meetings that have been scheduled for months, that this invitation from the white house came just a few days ago and so because of scheduling issues they wouldn't have anybody there but they had already talked to the vice president's office, they say to make too much of not being at this meeting would be blowing the story out of proportion, but i'll tell you, washington insiders like jenntasdtsaki, ry lizza say when you have something of this magnitude, the visuals of who is on the attendance list and who is there, people who follow washington say they think that somebody from walmart should be there, should be one person there even though -- >> let's parse this out further, christine. so walmart says it has previous commitments, so only one person can attend this meeting, and it's not like it was a surprise this meeting was coming up, right? if they've been talking to the white house they knew exactly

when the task force meetings were scheduled. >> i pushed them on this. they said we don't need to be there. we talked to them this week. i pointed out this is a conversation between all different kinds of opinions about guns in america and gun violence in america. it's not necessarily just talking one way with the vice president's office. it's hearing what the other groups have to say but he said we had a scheduling conflict, our executives are in bentonville for monthly meetings, we don't have anybody there. we already talked to the vice president's office earlier this week. >> did they release how many tvs they sell at christmastime? >> they will not break out product categories for competitive reasons. they don't want their competitors to know what volume they do. i can look at how much their overall sales are last year, it was $444 billion. they're the biggest seller carol of everything in the world, largest private retailer, 2.2 million employees.

walmart is a stakeholder in this because it is a very big seller of guns and ammunition in america. >> christine romans live in new york. dan lothian is at the white house today. dan, who is going to be accomplished at these meetings today? >> reporter: it's a chance for the vice president and his team to sit down with the various groups, victims groups, gun safety organizations, the nra, entertainment groups, video game industry to get their ideas about preventing gun violence in the future. already they are pushing congress to act on things that can get done now, such as reinstatement of that ban on assault weapons, closing in on some of those loopholes, those background checked loopholes and in addition limiting the high capacity clips, magazine clips, those are things that the administration says you know, lawmakers can move on very quickly but they believe that there are other options out there, good options that can also be put on the table, turned

into policy proposals. that can prevent gun violence in the future and of course the president has tasked this group with coming up with those proposals by the end of the month, carol. >> dan lothian reporting live from the white house this morning. more than two months after superstorm sandy hit the northeast there are so many families still struggling to survive. sheila and dominic trayna are a good example. we've been bringing you their story since sandy hit in october. as they fight with their insurance company, allstate they learned their damaged home is part of a new television ad for allstate. not surprising the traynas are upset. allstate tells the "new york post" they'll remove the ad and i forgot to mention this important detail, allstate did not pay the family's claim because they say the damage was caused by storm surge and not the storm itself. robert griffin iii going under the knife this morning. espn reporting the washington redskins physician and famed

orthopedist dr. james andrews is operating on the team's franchise quarterback. rg3 is having total reconstructive surgery on his knee, re-injured during sunday's playoff game, and is expected to recover in time, at least we hope so, for the 2013 season. espn now apologizing for brent musburger's remarks about katherine webb during the bcs title game monday. webb as you well know by now is the girlfriend of alabama quarterback a.j. mccarron. musburger gushed over webb's beauty, a shot of her from the stands. espn tweeted "'always try to capture interesting storylines and and the relationship between an auburn grad who is miss alabama and the current alabama quarterback certainly met that test. however the commentary went too far and brent understands that." they say politics shouldn't be a popularity contest but oh man if it were congress would not be doing so hot. according to the public policy

polling group, when americans were asked their opinions of the united states' congress, they tended to have a more favorable opinion of, oh, root canals, the rock band nickel back, genghis khan and cockroaches. the survey found congress was more popular that telemarketers, lindsay lohan, north korea and the ebola virus, they have that. oprah winfrey lands the first tv interview with lance armstrong since he lost his tour de france titles. will she be the one who finally gets to the bottom of the cheating scandal?

18 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now a white house official tells cnn all u.s. troops could leave afghanistan by the end of next year, that's one possibility that will depend on whether afghan security forces are fully trained and whether afghanistan gives legal cover to any u.s. troops after the nato mission ends. other possibility was for 6,000 to 15,000 u.s. troops to remain after 2014, a final decision could be months away. in the wake of the connecticut school shooting a vermont town is looking to ban assault weapons. burlington town leaders are considering changing the charter to eliminate assault rifles and high capacity maing scenes. voters would need to weigh in before all of that could become

law. for the first time one of our nation's most prominent churches will hold same-sex weddings. this year the ceremonies will be permitted inside washington's national cathedral. the church is episcopalian that allows each bishop whether to allow same-sex weddings in their church. the d.c. bishop decided to allow the weddings which are legal in the nation's capital and nearby state of maryland. if lance armstrong admits to doping it could be oprah winfrey to gets the confession out of him. the queen of talk has landed the first tv interview with armstrong since he was stripped of his tour de france titles airs next thursday night on oprah's tv network. diet drinks may satisfy your sweet tooth but people who drink at least four cans of soda a day are at much as 50% more likely to be diagnosed with depression. scientists who studied more than 260,000 people said their

findings don't show that diet drinks cause depression, only that there is a link between the two. and if you're one of about 5 million people who still get a paper check for social security or other federal benefits you have until march 1st to sign up to have your money deposited into a bank or debit card account. paper payments won't stop march 1st but the government will start hounding you if you miss the deadline. to sign up godirect.org. aig, you, me, all of us bail out the troubled insurance giant to the tune of $182 billion. we saved aig and it seemed grateful, it even went the extra mile and released a thank you video. >> we've repaid every dollar america lent us. >> everything plus a profit of more than $22 billion for the american people. >> thank you, america.

>> what happened next? aig paid its executives massive bonuses and today, aig might join a lawsuit over the terms of the bailout, because the deal that saved its bottom line cheated shareholders. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. seriously? >> seriously, yes. thanks for nothing, right? so the former ceo of aig, his name is hank greenburg spearheading the lawsuit against the u.s. he alleges the company's value was alluded in 2008. greenburg wants $25 billion in compensation from the government. the new york fed pointed out to "the financial times" that aig did have a choice, take the bailout or go bankrupt. that was really the choice that was there but that would have been catastrophic for the economy, which was already in bad shape and getting worse. star international, that's the company controlled by hank

greenburg owns about a 9% stake in aig and gives it the power to force aig to consider this suit. aig's current ceo, robert mochier issued a statement saying aig paid back its debt to america with a profit and we mean it when we say thank you to the american people. at the same time the board of directors has fiduciary and legal obligations to the company and its shareholders to consider the demands served on us and responds in a fair, appropriate and timely manner. okay. while the board meeting is happening right now, carol, to decide whether aig will join this lawsuit they will decide by the end of the month what they are going to do. >> i know you'll keep us posted. alison kosik live at the new york stock exchange. near you there's a breaking news story going on in new york city. there's been a ferry accident at pier 11 down by wall street. the ferry ran into a dock. 12 to 15 people are now injured, according to our affiliate there, one person suffered a

head injury. as you can see, people are getting taken off the ferry on stretchers. emergency crews are on the scene. don't know why that ferry crashed into that dock, because it must have been a massive collision for all those people to get hurt because that's one big boat. when we know more about the breaking news story we'll keep you posted.

now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. why the secrecy surrounding guns. all of the major players are showing up at the task force meeting with vice president joe biden today except for walmart, a major gun retailer.

it seems they're busy. walmart told us "we take the sale of firearms very seriously and are committed to the responsible sale of firearms. we were invited to attend the meeting thursday and we had scheduling conflicts." walmart says they're open to conversations on the topic yet when we tried to talk to walmart how many guns they sell, no dice, they won't tell us. they say they don't release product sales information for competitive reasons. one thing we do know most gun owners do not like publicity, we learned this after "new york's journal news" was blasted for publishing lists of gun owners in the area. gun right advocates pounced. >> producing list of gun permit owners, i want them from manhattan, i want to know how much rich liberals with their bodyguards have gun permits. >> all righty, ann coulter says the snarky web side gawker.com, the headline says it all "here's a list of all the a-holes who

own guns in new york city, 446 pages worth. critics say publicly naming gun owners is a dangerous thing to do, invites criminals into your home or outs police officers and fbi agencies or fbi agents rather. maybe that's understandable but there seems to be a cult of secrecy about gun ownership in america. the nra successfully lobbied to have it included in obama care a provision that prevents doctors from asking patients if they own a gun, and the nra also opposes a national gun database. what's the big deal? why not say how many guns you sell? or allow law enforcement to create a list of registered gun owners. talk back question today why the secrecy surrounding guns? facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me @carolcnn. i'll be back. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work.

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to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. at 30 minutes past the hour i'm carol costello. thanks for being with us again. lower manhattan in new york city for breaking news, pier 11 on the east river there's been a ferry accident. apparently the ferry ran into the dock there, this is in the wall street area, 12 to 15 people are injured. you see emergency crews on the scene, you see a lot of people on stretchers on the dock there with their heads secured because as you know, when something crashes, you can see the gash in

the boat right there. so you can see how hard that thing hit so you can understand there might be cases of wh whip lash or other injuries. we have an interview from the wabc chopper pilot. let's listen. >> well i'm just going with what i'm watching here at the scene, you can take that injury count up to around 20, that's how many patients we count again on the ground, you can see on the stretchers and in wheelchairs, one other note in the rear of the boat we just saw them starting to come out with another injury there so injured people are still coming off of the boat. there's one and another just coming out the door. we saw at the front entrance of the boat firefighters and ems workers entering with empty stretchers so i would have to think there are still more injuries inside, again, it's an informal count that i'm doing from the air but right now counting the three that have just been taken out of the boat

we can move that injury count to above 20, and probably closer to 23 or 24, that's the unofficial count i'm seeing from the air. >> it looks pretty serious with that big hole in the boat there. we don't know what caused the captain of this boat to run into the dock that hard. we're efforting emergency crew workers from new york city and police officials and fire officials to tell us more. when we get them on the phone we'll put them on the air. we get a clearer picture of what happened inside a suburban atlanta home where a mom opened fire multiple times on an intru intruder. the woman's husband talking her through the terrifying ordeal on the phone as 911 operators listen in. that 911 call obtained by affiliate wsb captures what happened next. >> she shot him. she's shooting him. she's shooting him. she's shooting him. she's shooting him. shoot him again!

shoot him. oh, no -- >> the intruder, 31-year-old paul slater, according to police, shown here, accused of breaking through three doors in the home to get to the woman. she was hiding in a crawl space with her 9-year-old twins. slater tried to escape but was later picked up by police when he crashed his car. she did hit him. he was hospitalized with a punctured lung, stomach and liver. now to the case, the strange case of robert levinson, a retired fbi agent who went missing in iran during a trip there to 2007 to the island of quiche. this morning strange and frightening photos taken of the american citizen released by the family. there are five photos in all, we'll only show you two, these were taken by levinson's captors. in one levinson in chains is holding a sign saying "help me" and in another a reference to the four years levinson has been missing. his appearance is ragged. levinson has diabetes, his

family is frustrated american politicians aren't doing more to rescue him. susan candiotti has been following the story. do we even know who his captors are? >> carol, it's not clear exactly who is holding bob levinson captive or exactly where he is and his family is getting more and more worried with each passing day. they decided to release these disturbing photos they received more than a year and a half ago because they are anxious and frustrated that not enough is being done to free mr. levinson. not enough progress after nearly six years. the photos were steent to a famy friend when they were unsuccessfully mailed, in fractured english it reads "why you can not help me. anothers fourth year, you can't or you don't want." the chains make the family

worried about his health. he suffers from diabetes. he's a retired fbi agent who disappeared in iran. his family says he was on a business trip investigating cigarette smuggling. he was last seen on quiche island off the coast of iran. the state department flatly deny he was working for the u.s. government. carol? >> in one of the signs that he was holding up, it said guantanamo. why do you suppose that was? >> carol, clearly is he not there. we are left to speculate as to whether his captors thought anyone might believe that he is in guantanamo but there's no proof of that, and you know, carol, when the family first received these photos, they also earlier received a proof of life video back in 2010. officially the u.s. government says levinson is being held in southwest asia and as recently as last fall iran's president ahmadinejad told cnn he has no

idea where levinson is being held and iran's offering to help. >> the family is coming out, putting more pressure on the politicians to get him out. i mean -- >> they're trying. >> i just can't imagine how that would feel. >> it's awful and it's been especially hard on the family because he has a large family, and mr. levinson, the family says, has missed so much, for example, his daughter, susan, is getting married next month and he won't be there to walk her down the aisle either apparently. unless something changes. >> we hope it does. susan candiotti, thanks so much. quick update to the breaking news happening in lower manhattan near wall street, a ferry has run into the dock there injuring as many as 23 to 25 people. emergency crews still taking the injured off of that ferry. we'll have more after a break.

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all right, we're keeping an eye on a situation in lower manhattan near wall street at pier 11, a ferry has run into a dock, and when i say run into, there's a huge gash in the boat there, so it ran into the dock pretty hard. at least 20, 21, 22 people injured right now. you can see some of those people being treated on the scene, and you can see that emergency workers are covering those people with blankets because it is frigid in new york city

today. it's very cold. according to our affiliate wabc some people are being treated at the scene. others taken to a downtown new york city hospital for treatment. when we know more about this accident, of course we'll pass it along to you. a national debate on gun violence in hollywood once again finds itself in the spotlight. nischelle turner joins from us los angeles. good morning. >> good morning, carol. how are you? >> i'm good. i understand some big celebrities are demanding change in the wake of the newtown shootings but that seems to be causing some controversy. >> yeah, you know, you and i have talked about this before, i know you really have been interested in how hollywood is responding after the shootingings at sandy hook elementary school. they've canceled a couple movie premieres, hollywood has done some soul searching but at this point it seems to be business as usual.

explosions, gore and gunshots. violence on screen is the bread and butter of the blockbuster machine and blaming the industry for inspiring real-life tragedy is as old as hollywood itself. but in the wake of the shooting in newtown, connecticut, as americans looked for answers, the head of the nra directly linked the tragedy to hollywood. >> there exists in this country sadly a callous, corrupt and shadowing industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. >> reporter: action star and politician arnold schwarzenegger calls that accusation simplistic and inaccurate. >> we have to look at the gun laws and we have to look at everything, every aspect of it has to be looked at rather than just one thing. >> reporter: some stars came together after the newtown massacre for an anti-gun public service announcement. >> for the children of sandy hook. >> demand a plan.

>> reporter: but the contradiction between hollywood's steady diet of on screen shoot-outs and the gun control message in the psa has brought out a backlash of critics. this youtube remix of the ad ridiculing the celebrities involved matches some of them with film clips where they're using a xwn. the video has been seen and liked on youtube by hundreds of thousands of people. >> newtown. >> reporter: but one actor in the psa doesn't want people jumping to conclusions about what he believes personally. >> it's important for me to do and honor to do. i'm for guns. i own guns and i don't think guns kill people, i think people kill people. it's much deeper issues into it. >> reporter: what's clear already is the most recent mass shootings have some in hollywood thinking differently about their professional choices, ben affleck is one of them. >> i think filmmakers have a responsibility. i don't permit my children to watch a lot of things and i'm on it as much as i can, but as a

filmmaker you ask yourself where is my line. >> reporter: the man who played rambo and made a career out of action movies says he would hope movie violence comes with an underlying moral but concedes that's not always the case. >> if you're going to do a film like that, that has that kind of violence, there has to be a certain morality that good triumphs over evil and that it's not random. like so many times we've seen in action films a guy runs in, he's after the bad guy, but four other people get killed on the subway and we never even look at them. oh, yeah, i've got them myself, boom. >> so now is there some soul searching going on? yes. absolutely. does it seem more genuine this time? i would say yes to that, too, but the question is, and carol, you asked me this question and i really didn't have the answer to it, when we were talking about it, them canceling the jack

reacher premiere, is there going to be a difference in how movies are made in hollywood and that's the question that we don't have an answer to right now. >> if people continue to go see those movies and they enjoy them and hollywood makes money off those people nothing will change because money talks louder than anything in america. right? i'm just being realistic. >> yes. what were the top two movies at the box office? "texas chainsaw massacre 3" and "jango unchained." >> we all need to do soul searching and see why we like to see that stuff. i go to violent movies and i paused and really thought about it, why. >> maybe this and hopefully we won't have another tragedy like this, but maybe this will give us pause and have us really asking questions. i'm not a big fan of violent movies. i usually don't go see those, but i'm a little bit different because i just don't like the gore, but there is a line

between art and entertainment and what bleeds over into real life and i think those are questions that a lot of america is asking themselves right now. >> nischelle turner, thanks so much. i appreciate it. >> sure. let's head back to new york city to pier 11 in lower manhattan near wall street, been a big ferry accident. the ferry ran into the dock hard. if you can see the corner of the boat up in the front of the boat there's a huge hole there, so that boat hit the dock pretty darned hard. at least 20 people are injured. you can see emergency workers putting blankets on people on stretchers on the dock because it's cold in new york citi. here is the wabc chopper pilate to describe the conditions there this morning. >> i want to stress for folks at home just tuning in you see a lot of these people covered with blankets, that is for warmth. lot of times you get on a scene like this and see people covered with blankets and you assume the worst.

we've seen every patient that we have seen whether they're on a stretcher or in a wheelchair, or obviously walking, they have alert. they have from what i've seen up here at least they've been responsive. these blankets are just, some of these patients have been laying here for 15 or 20 minutes on the cold concrete directly on the water so the blankets are for warmth provided by fdny and ems. they are triaged and staged for transport to a local hospital, new york downtown hospital being one of the hospitals they'll go to. >> we don't know how many have been transported to the hospital. some people are being treated on the scene and getting up and walking away and they're a-okay. you can look at the hole in the boat and see how hard that thing hit the dock, so emergency crew workers want to be careful and really check people out before they let them go on their way. twitter follower sent us some pictures from the scenes and we're going to look at those pictures right now. you can see how many people there and how many police and emergency workers have gone to

the scene to help all of those people on boats, who were probably going to work this morning, so many new yorkers get to work and maybe tourists because the 9/11 memorial is down that way, maybe they take that ferry to that historical place. we'll keep you posted on what's happening in lower manhattan but again, pier 11, ferry ran into a dock, as many as 23 people injured, some of them taken to area hospitals, some of them being treated at the scene. we'll keep you posted. we'll be back. hi. i'm henry winkler.

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"talkback" question of the day. why the secrecy surrounding guns? this from joseph. he says, "simple, nra pours funds into lawmakers that support their views." from kathleen, "it is no one's business if i own a gun." this from chris. "i am all for gun control, but creating a database for all the registered gun owners sounds like the most ridiculous move towards gun control. couldn't criminals just use that database if they wanted to see who not to rob?" keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me @carolcnn.

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we are keeping an eye on what's happening in lower manhattan. at pier 11, that's by wall street on the east river, a ferry has run hard into a dock. there's a big, gaping hole in the front of the boat. as you can see, passengers have been injured. we think up to 23 passengers, maybe more, because emergency workers still are taking people off of that ferry. some of the people are being treated at the scene. you can see they're covered with blankets, but don't think the worst. it's just really cold in new york city right now, and they're lying on concrete. so emergency workers are trying to make patients more comfortable. we also understand -- and we

don't know how many -- but some people have been taken to area hospitals. one in downtown new york city. we don't know how serious their injuries are. we understand from our affiliate wabc, at least one passenger had head injuries. and also we have no idea why the boat's captain ran into that dock so hard. we're going to take a break and come back with more. what are you doing? nothing. are you stealing our daughter's school supplies and taking them to work? no, i was just looking for my stapler and my...

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it seems simple enough. baseball's best players are eligible for induction into the hall of fame. five years after retirement if their names are on 75% of the ballots filled out by baseball writers. but nothing is simple in the steroids era. and because of that, there's a chance no one will go to cooperstown this year. voting results for the class of 2013 will be announced later this afternoon. "sports illustrated's" ben rider is here to talk about some of the names on the ballots. welcome. let's talk about some of those names. barry bonds and roger clemens are the biggest. could they get in today? >> this was once destined to be a celebratory day. five years after they retired, finally the greatest hitter and the all-time home run king, that's bonds, and the greatest pitcher of his generation and a seven-time cy young award winner, that's clemens, would be elected to the fhall of fame. however, now because of the

cloud of p.e.d. use, performance enhancing drugs, i'm afraid the announcement will land with a thud. not only do i not expect them to get 75% of the vote, the amount that's necessary, i don't think we'll even reach 50%. >> just for the record, rafael palmeiro is the only one on the ballot who failed a drug test, who failed a steroid test. so why not put barry bonds and roger clemens in? i mean, barry bonds, what, was convicted of obstruction of justice. roger clemens, he went through this big, long trial. nothing happened. so why not vote them in? i mean, what justification will sports writers have for not allowing them into the hall? >> these are very complicated times. sports writers will tell you that anyone who has even had a hint of linkage with performance enhancing drug use will not be on their ballots, okay? of course, this is an era in which we don't exactly know which players might have used performance enhancing drugs or

might not have. bonds and klemm enclemens have strongly linked to them. however, this is something that will extend to virtually every player of an era. and the hall of fame and baseball writers association of america really needs to address this and make a firm policy as to who is eligible and who will kind of dangle on the ballot for years to come. >> oh, see, you have a good point, but that's so logical, and baseball is a game filled with traditions that cannot be broken for hundreds of years for some particular reason. even in a case like this where something -- you're right -- something needs to be done, some rule, something. >> absolutely. you know, and the problem is that today not only might bonds and clemens not be elected, i think there's quite strong of a chance that no one will be elected to the hall of fame today. there's some other very good candidates, craig biggio, second baseman with 3,000 hits, mike piazza, best-hitting catcher of

all time. that means that come july we could have an induction weekend without a living member on the stage for the first time since 1965. the hall of fame might not just be a fantasy land in which history is denied, it might become something worse, which is irrelevant. >> i say go jack morris. ben ryder, thanks so much. we appreciate your being here this morning. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts right now. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> and good morning. thank you so much for being with me. i'm carol costello. we're starting this hour with breaking news. about an hour ago, a passenger ferry in new york city crashed -- and i mean crashed -- into a pier. more than a dozen people are hurt. some are being taken away on stretchers. cnn's national correspondent susan candiotti is in new york. she's been following this. tell us more. >> hi, carol. what a scene down there. when you take a look at that ferry, you can see a large chunk, it looks like, that's

been eaten out or bitten out, as it apparently crashed into the dock. now, we talked to a passenger on the ship, and she says that this is a ferry that makes a daily run from new jersey. she got on in highland, new jersey, and it goes all the way over to wall street dock number 11. this accident happened according to officials just before 9:00 in the morning. this is a ferry service that makes daily runs from new jersey to new york and has a number of ships in its fleet. this one appears to be one that contains -- that can carry as many as 400 passengers. so right now authorities and rescue crews are on the scene, reporting at least 17 injuries. apparently all of the injuries, we are being told, are minor as of this time. but authorities, of course, have to get to the bottom of how this could have happened. was there a mechanical failure? was something else at play? and we're quite sure that

investigation will be getting under way today. it's not uncommon for the national transportation safety board to get involved. when it happened, we saw in fairly short order, rescue crews were there including new york's fire department going on board the ship and bringing several people out on stretchers, as you can see, of course, to make sure that there are no serious injuries but certainly to get them to the hospital if any people need hospitalization. carol? >> absolutely. susan candiotti, thank you. we now have a passenger on board that ferry, elizabeth, she's on the phone. hi, elizabeth. >> caller: hi, carol. >> so tell me, i mean, when the boat hit the dock, how did that feel? >> caller: it kind of felt like we were in a car crash. we weren't quite at the dock yet, so it seemed like no one was really sure what we had hit, but it didn't feel like anything that had ever happened before on the boat. it didn't feel like a mechanical failure or a light tap.

like it was definitely a hard crash. >> so did people fly around everywhere? were they seated? standing? what? >> caller: i happened to be sitting, but as we normally come to the dock, a lot of people do get out of their seats to wait by the door. and those people were thrown, like, into the air and onto the ground. >> oh. so then the emergency crews, did they just come -- well, they had to get there, right, get to the scene, but how long was it before they went on board the boat to get people out on stretchers? >> caller: i would say it was about ten minutes. when we did crash, we weren't quite at the dock yet, so we had to make our way to the dock and then allow the emergency personnel to come on board. >> we just confirmed them, just so you know, elizabeth, 50 people now injured. one of them critical. what kind of injuries did you see, if any? >> caller: i was sitting in the back, and i could see from my seat about four people that were on the ground. one man had a nosebleed. another woman was kind of near the door. and someone was asked if anyone

knew cpr. so i couldn't see her face, but there was another woman in front of me who was lying on the ground. there were definitely many people on the ground that were not moving. >> elizabeth, but you're okay, right? >> caller: yes. >> oh, thank goodness. because you were sitting in the back. i guess you were lucky, huh? >> caller: yeah. i mean, i think if i had been standing, it would have been a lot worse. >> elizabeth banta, thanks so much for talking with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> caller: thanks, carol. now a story that may affect you is now likely to affect you, actually. it's the outbreak of the flu. and this year it is exceptionally early and unusually rampant. 43 states now reporting widespread cases. hospitals are dealing with overflow crowds. in allentown, pennsylvania, a tent now sits in the shadow of lehigh valley hospital. it's being heated, being used as a portable flu clinic. terry berger is the hospital's director of infection control and prevention. well, your title gives us a hint. tell us, terri, why you've set

up this tent. >> the reason why we set up the tent is in an effort to decompress what we were seeing in our emergency departments. typically we can see anywhere about 285 to 300 patients. and we were seeing an additional 100 on top of that with flulike symptoms. >> so give me a sense of a typical day, one where so many patients came into your hospital, it overwhelmed doctors. >> well, the challenge is that we are a level one trauma center. so we still need to keep our doors open for heart attacks and strokes and burn patients and traumas. now on top of that, we had to take care of 100 patients that were coming in with flulike symptoms. so the challenge was how long patients had to wait. that is the reason why we, as an emergency management team, decided to put the tent up in an effort to decrease those waits, cohort those patients, and

hopefully patients with mild symptoms could be seen quickly and then discharged directly from the tent. >> were they older patients? younger patients? kids? >> to be honest with you, we are seeing flu patients all across the board. from very young to very old. we've been unfortunate enough to also have a death in our institution, but there have been several deaths across pennsylvania as well as across the entire nation. so flu is serious. >> you're not kidding. okay. so you're a health care professional. people want to know how they can protect themselves. i mean, i haven't gotten the flu shot yet. should i get one? >> absolutely. the number one means of protecting yourself against the flu is influenza vaccination. in addition to that, hand hygiene. we say that over and over and over. good hand hygiene. you can also practice social distancing, meaning avoid crowds, avoid going to work if you're ill, going to school if

you're ill, coughing into your sleeve, using tissues. the unfortunate part is people tend to continue to do those activities even though they're ill. it's an efficient transmitter, and thus we infect our surfaces and our coworkers. >> terry burger, thanks and good luck. and i'm glad you're hanging in there. we appreciate it. thanks so much. this is cnn breaking news. >> as you can see, it's a busy news. more breaking news to tell you about. this involves walmart. we told you earlier that walmart was invited to joe biden's task force on guns in america. walmart says its executives were way too busy to attend, so it decided not to, says it didn't mean to diss the president, the administration or joe biden. its executives just had another meeting to attend in arkansas. christine romans is here to tell us about a change of mind, maybe? >> a change of mind and a change

of heart. the company telling me just now that they decided they will send the appropriate representative to meet in person at these meetings thursday with the vice president's task force. they say knowing our senior leaders could not be in washington this week, we spoke in advance with the vice president's office to share our perspective. we underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate. we take this issue very seriously and are committed to staying engaged in the discussion as the administration and congress work toward a consensus for the right path forward. why is walmart such a big stakeholder? it is the world's largest retailer. it sells guns and ammunition. it is, many analysts say, the largest seller of guns and ammunition because of its position as the world's biggest retailer, it is definitely a stakeholder. >> i'm just, like, they didn't understand how important this was? did they miss what happened in newtown? >> i think this became a pr blunder when people began to

say, why aren't they there? they said that they had monthly meetings already on the calendar in bentonville, arkansas, with their senior executives, that a meeting earlier this week, a conference call meeting earlier this week with the vice president's staff was how they were going to contribute to the conversation. but there are a lot of other groups who have also been having conference call meetings with the vice president's staff who will be attending in person. look, this is a guest list or an invitation list that is very closely scrutinized because you want all of the different participants and players in the discussion after newtown to be there at the table, literally at the table, and now walmart will be literally at the table. >> well, that is good news. christine romans, thanks so much. dan lothian, he's at the white house. tell us what joe biden wants accomplished in this meeting. >> reporter: well, you know, and that's why it was important for walmart to be at the table here, because, you know, vice president biden, cabinet members and other senior-level officials here at the white house want to get as much input from various

sectors of the gun industry, those who sell it, those who own guns, those who are concerned about weapons, to sit down at the table and to come up with some options to prevent gun violence like we saw in connecticut. and so it's a chance for this group led by the vice president to get information but also to provide some information to these folks as well. and then the hope is that this can turn into some policy proposal that will be submitted to the president by the end of the month. what they're also saying here at the white house is that in the meantime, while they're trying to come up with these policy proposals that there's a lot that congress can do such as reinstating the ban on assault weapons, also closing some of the loopholes on background checks and then limiting high-capacity magazines, those are things they say they can move forward on right away. but then, of course, you have gun owners, the nra saying you need to look beyond that. that is important. but it's not just about gun control. you have to look at issues such as mental illness.

they've also said that you have to look at, you know, the gaming industry and how these violent games contribute to these violent shootings. and in addition, you've heard the nra say that, you know, they are proposing that all schools should have an armed person there in order to prevent violence at school. so they believe that you should look at a comprehensive approach, not just look at guns out there. >> well, representatives from all of those entities you just mentioned will be at the meeting in person, even walmart. >> reporter: that's right. >> dan lothian, thanks so much. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] break the grip of aches or arthritis pain

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we're covering for you today. the first, let's talk about this one first, in new york city. pier 11 near wall street. ferry ferrying people from new jersey down to wall street on the east river blams into the dock. there's a gaping hole in the boat. 50 people injured. one of them critically. many of them had neck injuries. some of them had head injuries. wabc, our affiliate in new york, their chopper pilot describes the scene. >> well, i haven't gotten any more official information, i'm just going with what i'm watching here at the scene. you can take that injury count now up to around 20. that's how many patients we count, again, on the ground, you can see on those stretchers and in wheelchairs. one other note in the rear of the boat, we just saw them, are they coming out with another injury right there? yes. injured people are still coming off of the boat. there's one and another just coming out the door. we saw at the front entrance of the boat firefighters and ems workers entering with empty

stretchers. so i would have to think that there are still more injuries inside. again, it's an informal count that i'm doing from the air. but right now counting the three that have just been taken out of the boat, we can move that injury count now to above 20 and probably closer to 23 or 24 that's the unofficial count that i'm seeing from the air. >> obviously he gave that report a little earlier this morning because the injury count is now up to 50. one person has been critically injured in this accident. a couple of minutes ago, we talked to a passenger on board that ferry. her name was elizabeth banta. she said it didn't feel like a mechanical problem. it just felt like the boat ran into the dock really hard. people were standing by the door waiting to get off the ferry, she said, and they were thrown in the air to the floor. so you can see how hard that boat hit the dock and why there were so many injuries. investigators are just now starting to figure out what happened. we're also following a breaking news story concerning walmart.

walmart was supposed to attend a meeting held by vice president joe biden because he has this big task force on guns, right? the nra is going to be there, representatives from hollywood are going to be there, representatives from the video game industry are going to be there. walmart was supposed to be there, too. but earlier this morning, it said it didn't have anyone to send because it had prior commitments. and its executives could not go to washington to attend joe biden's task force meeting. moments ago walmart changed its mind, though. and i want to read you a bit of the statement it sent us. "we underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate." so walmart will indeed attend joe biden's task force meetings on thursday, as invited. walmart changed its mind because it underestimated things. you see it. we'll get an update from christine romans a little later. it's been a rough week for boeing's newest jet.

today a 787 dreamliner flight is canceled for an error message about the plane's brakes. on monday, a japanese airline, a 787, caught fire at boston's logan airport. the fire started in the battery compartment. no one was on board. and then on tuesday, another japanese airliner 787 was canceled, this time because of a fuel leak. >> hey, that japan air may know it, but they've got fuel or something spilling out the outboard left wing there quite a bit. >> sandra endo joins us now from washington. tell us more about these incidents. they're now under investigation, right? >> well, carol, the string of irregularities for boeing's marquee plane, the 787 dreamliner, is certainly a concern for the manufacturer. the plane is the first commercial airliner to be made mostly of carbon composites, or plastic, which means it's a lighter plane that boeing says uses less fuel than conventional airliners. well, boeing says it is working

with ntsb investigators, looking into monday's fire on a japan airlines 787 at boston's logan airport. the fire involved the batteries in the belly of the plane used to power the aircraft while on the ground. and in a statement, boeing adds, "nothing that we've seen in this case indicates a relationship with any previous 787 power system events." as for the second japan airlines dreamliner that was spewing fuel at logan airport yesterday, it was a pilot from another plane that alerted the control tower that the 787 was losing fuel. and then the control tower notified the unsuspecting j.a.l. pilot. the ntsb says it's not looking into the fuel leak which j.a.l. officials are deeming a mechanical problem. and boston airport officials say there was no leak in the fuel tank, but the plane was venting fuel, which is the aircraft's way to dump excess fuel. but it's not usually seen on the runway. so after four hours, the

dreamliner was checked out and cleared to fly. now, the japanese government told cnn they have asked airlines to inspect planes for battery problems that could cause a fire similar to monday's incident. and united airlines told cnn as well, it inspected all their 787s after monday's fire but would not elaborate on their findings. and just this morning as you mentioned, an all-nippon airways dreamliner canceled a flight abuse of an electrical problem with the alert messaging system involving the brakes. >> i just want to know if it's safe to ply on a 787. is it? >> i think it is. you know, it's a pretty new plane. there's a lot of kinks to be worked out, and these are kind of minor mechanical electrical problems. i sat in the cockpit of a 787 on another story, and it's just so fascinating, all the touch screens they're using and all the electronics involved in this plane. but keep in mind, these problems are affecting the company, though. because after the reports of

these two problems, just this week, yesterday boeing shares fell 3.6%. >> sandra endo, thanks so much, reporting live from washington. president obama wants cia veteran john brennan to be the agency's new director, but a new movie could complicate his confirmation. so if ydead battery,t tire, need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geico's emergency roadside assistance is there 24/7. oh dear, i got a flat tire. hmmm. uh... yeah,

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hollywood often borrows story lines from washington, but the new movie "zero dark thirty" could create political intrigue in the opposite direction. the film paints a pretty intense picture of cia interrogation techniques. and it's in theaters that senators on the real capitol hill compare to weigh the

confirmation of john brennan, a cia veteran whom president obama has elected to lead the agency. we have a look at how the film and how brennan's confirmation could intersect. >> i'm not going to help you. i'm going to break you. do you have any questions? >> reporter: thousands of moviegoers could come away from "zero dark thirty" believing that terrorists broke during brutal interrogations and gave up information that led to osama bin laden. >> this film raises all these questions at an interesting time for the obama administration. >> reporter: the movie opens nationwide as john brennan prepares for confirmation hearings on capitol hill. >> john brennan is the first person to be nominated to be head of the cia who was at the agency at the time these kinds of technique were being used. >> reporter: it derailed his potential nomination for the same job four years ago. in 2008, human rights activists attacked brennan as a bush administration company man, in part because of what brennan

said to cbs, that enhanced interrogation techniques produced valuable information. >> the agency has, in fact, used against the real hardcore terrorists. it has saved lives. >> reporter: now "zero dark thirty" is bringing that issue front and center before brennan's hearings. >> we will never find him. >> reporter: and ironically, it was the obama administration that backed the movie, giving filmmakers incredible access to top military and cia officials. >> you really believe this story? osama bin laden? >> repter: although filmmakers claim it was based on firsthand accounts, the cia has issues with the movie. >> they show people being beaten, people chained to the ceiling and people hauled around in dog collars. that simply did not happen to any of the al qaeda detainees that were in cia custody. >> reporter: bill harlow was at the cia when 9/11 mastermind khalid shaikh mohammed and others were captured. he says unlike the film, interrogators did not question detainees during enhanced

interrogation and only used the techniques in the first days or weeks of detention. >> once they became compliant, they never again received any harsh interrogation. >> reporter: as for brennan, harlow says when these techniques were being used in 2002 and '03, brennan had nothing to do with the program. >> to tar him with that brush or to give him credit for that would be incorrect because it just didn't meet his duties at the time. >> reporter: in other words, they're saying that brennan shouldn't be blamed or credited for enhanced interrogation because he didn't have much to do with it, although he and other officials have supported the techniques which they say led to breakthroughs, although not the breakthrough that's depicted in the film, the big one that led to osama bin laden. chris lawrence, cnn, washington. our alison kosik reports live from the new york stock exchange every morning. she's very near that accident. in fact, she's on her way to the ferry accident near wall street right now. we're going to take a quick

break. we'll come back with the latest news from that ferry location and the 50 injured passengers from our alison kosik next. [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance.

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stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sound) ask your doctor about spiriva. let's head back to lower manhattan where there's been a ferry accident. somehow that ferry ran hard into a dock. there's a big, gaping hole in the front of that boat. at least 50 people have been injured. one of them critically. this is very near wall street. alison kosik, as you know, reports from the new york stock exchange every day. she was nearby. she joins us on the phone. she's on the scene right now. what's it look like? >> reporter: at least a dozen emergency vehicles up and down

pier 11 here where lots of ferries come in. this is where the financial district is. a lot of people -- a lot of commuters -- use this route to get into manhattan. this particular ferry came in from highlands, new jersey. it was the 8:00 a.m. ferry out of highlands, new jersey, expected to arrive here at pier 11 at 8:45. clearly something went terribly wrong. i spoke with one woman, 26-year-old ashley, who was on this ferry. she told me about her ride into manhattan. she said at first, it seemed like a normal day, a normal day getting on the boat. and it certainly didn't turn out to be that way. they said she was standing right in the middle of the boat when it was clear that the boat hit something. all she remembers is she went flying in the air. and she woke up on the floor to a woman begging her to speak. she was shaking her and begging her to speak, telling me she was clearly knocked out. and then she heard emergency officials tell everybody who could, who could walk, to go to

the front of the boat and get off first. they wanted to attend to people who were more seriously hurt. ashley told me how when she did walk, she felt lots of people lying everywhere. one man in particular had a huge gash in his head, lots of blood from him. she got off the boat and, you know, was in tears. clearly a very scary commute in. another witness that i spoke with said that a lot of the people who were hurt worse were standing up. this is a two-tier ferry, an upstairs and a downstairs. and what happens is a lot of these people are eager to get off the boat, to get on with their day. so a lot of people wind up standing up even before the boat stops. so unfortunately, according to the witnesses, is a lot of people were standing up on the staircase. and when this boat hit the barge, these people came tumbling down the stairs. carol? >> oh, it's lucky no one fell in the water because it's really cold in new york city right now. we see that some of the injured were being treated on the scene

on stretchers, and firefighters were putting blankets over them to keep them warm. other passengers, alison, were taken to the hospital. at least 50 people injured in all. one of them critically. earlier i, too, spoke to a woman who was on board that boat. she was sitting in the back, a young woman named elizabeth banta. i'm sorry. judy westphalt, we have her on the phone, i'm hearing from my producer. judy, you were a witness to this accident. before i get to elizabeth, tell me what you saw. >> caller: i didn't see the accident happen. i just saw some of the aftermath when ems appeared to have gotten there a few minutes before. they were bringing out a lot of injured passengers on board. there was a lot of bleeding heads and stunned-looking passengers. the passengers were still coming off of the ferry when i got there. >> are you close enough to the boat to see that big hole in the front of the thing? >> caller: yes, one of the

passengers showed me a picture he had taken from the boat. i couldn't tell if there was a hole. there was definitely a lot of damage on the front sort of bottom of the boat. >> how did that person you were talking to, how did you describe the impact? >> caller: he just said, you know, it was a huge jolt, a big, you know, huge impact, and that's pretty much how everyone described it. luckily the passenger that i talked to, he was still seated. and he was, i guess, sort of in the process of getting up. so he did hit his knee, but he wasn't as bad off -- you know, there were lots and lots of passengers who were standing because the boat was coming in, so they were sort of getting ready to get off the boat. >> we're looking at some of the pictures you took at the scene from your facebook page, i think. i think that's it. this is from twitter. i apologize. from twitter. so judy, explain to me again the extent of the injuries you saw. >> caller: i saw, you know, a lot of bleeding heads and the

white bandages covering them. i saw a lot of people strapped to boards who were laying on the cement dock. and i couldn't see -- some of them didn't appear to be injured, but obviously there was enough concern about their health, you know, to keep them strapped to their boards. >> absolutely. judy, we appreciate you sharing your story with us this morning. you know, just to wrap up again, 50 people injured in this ferry accident. one of them critically. don't know why that ferry ran into the dock right now, but as you might expect, an investigation is now under way. we're also following breaking news involving walmart. the retailer now says it's going to go to a meeting on gun control this week at the white house. christine romans broke this story. she's in new york with more. good morning, christine. >> good morning. the company, as you know, had said that it has its monthly meetings in bentonville, arkansas, and wouldn't be able to physically attend the vice president's gun meetings, gun meetings attended by all different groups including the

national rifle association. walmart said indeed it had talked to -- it had a conference call earlier in the week with the vice president's staff and scheduling difficulties meant it couldn't come. of course, a lot of folks said wait a minute. other groups had conference calls with the vice president's staff. they're still personally going to be at this meeting. some said that it was a slight to the white house and the vice president's team. walmart all morning had been telling me it's not a slight to the effort here. they just couldn't make it because of scheduling problems. now walmart has changed its mind. it will be sending somebody there. the company telling me in a statement, "we underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate." carol, when i broke this news to you about 20 minutes ago, i told you the company was having a change of heart. a company spokesman corrected me. he said we did not have a change of heart. we have always been involved in the discussion about gun safety. they say responsible sellers of armaments in this country. it wasn't a change of heart.

they've always been in this discussion, but they will now personally be at the table. that they had underestimated how important it was for public perception to do this face to face. >> i believe you said they had a change of heart about attending this meeting in person, not the other thing. >> that's what i said. that's what i said. but i have been going back and forth with walmart for about four hours about these meetings and why they would not personally be there. now they have changed their mind. i think the public outcry was pretty clear here. a lot of people will be sitting down, talking and listening over the next couple of days. and now walmart will, too. walmart is the largest retailer in the country. walmart sells ammunition. it sells ar-15 style bushmaster rifles like the ones used to kill those 26 people in newtown. walmart is a purveyor of the very products that are at the center of this debate about gun safety. that's why walmart is invited and why walmart will be there. >> christine romans, thanks so much. maricopa county sheriff joe arpaio is no stranger to controversy, so his latest

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the controversyial sheriff maricopa county, joe arpaio, he's certainly taking his own approach to school safety.

this weekend sheriff joe will have his volunteer posse start patrolling areas near schools under the county's jurisdiction. armed men and women in marked vehicles including some who have had a criminal past. of course, they've had background checks. the county will ensure them in case something happens. sheriff arpaio spoke out about his new program. >> it's not a secret. i want everybody to know we're there. and maybe the bad guys will worry about it. >> the sheriff's office says those volunteers with criminal backgrounds have already served their time in prison or have had their records expunged, so they're entirely okay to patrol the areas around schools. jose miguel from affiliate kpho joins us from anthem, arizona, outside an elementary school where those volunteers are on patrol. thanks for being with us. >> reporter: thanks for having me. >> so first of all, describe how these patrols will look.

will they get out of their vehicles and walk, and will you see their weapons? >> reporter: they will actually patrol the grounds as well as on foot as well as in their vehicles. what we understand is basically the sheriff is looking to make sure that their presence is very well known. he thinks that as long as people can see these uniformed posse members out in this area, it will deter anybody who shouldn't be on campus from going anywhere near the kpus. not only we they be patrolling in marked vehicles, they'll also be walking around the perimeter as well. >> have parents in the county asked for this? >> reporter: from what we understand, they're actually giving a lot of mixed reaction. there are some parents that think that any extra protection is great. when it comes to the safety of their children, they don't want to spare any expense. that means having extra eyes and ears on school property, they are all for it. but then there are some parents that say maybe this isn't a good idea. maybe we shouldn't make the

children more afraid than they need to be. maybe if they see a uniformed person on campus, they think something is wrong, and they might be a little bit more nervous than if there was just the regular school administrators out patrolling. so there is definitely some mixed reaction from the parents when it comes to this program. >> i'm just curious, in maricopa county, is there a big problem with guns in schools or violence in schools? >> reporter: we have had some issues in certain areas of the county. just like any major metropolitan city, there are certain areas that you might see weapons more prevalent than others. typically when a situation like that occurs, it's handled rather quickly by the school administrators. we haven't had any incidents within the last few years where a weapon has been discharged or anything of that nature, which is great news for the parents in the area. but the school administration in this city is very strong in their beliefs about not allowing any type of weapon on campus, be

it from a student or a parent, for that matter. >> jose miguel from our affiliate kpho, thank you so much for filling us in. we appreciate it. and by the way, sheriff joe will hold a press conference at 4:00 p.m. eastern, i think it is. and he's also invited reporters from around the country to ride with his posse to see how that program exactly works. we'll keep you posted. a man who has 11 children with 10 different women is a star in a reality show. >> like i said, there's a lot of fathers who don't take care of one. i take care of 11. >> that's shawty. and 30,000 people are objecting to shawty's new show. you'll hear from the woman leading the charge. (dog) larry,larry,larrryyy. why take exercise so seriously,when it can be fun? push-ups or sprints? what's wrong with fetch? or chase?

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the importance of being a responsible father, it's a topic that can be a sensitive one in this country but one president obama has been talking about for several years, even before he was elected. >> we need fathers to recognize their responsibility doesn't just end at conception. that doesn't just make you a father. what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child.

any fool can have a child. that doesn't make you a father. >> and once in the white house, the president launched a fatherhood pledge, asking men to renew their commitment to their families and communities. but a new reality show flies in the face of everything the president is promoting. it's called "all my babies' mamas" and features atlanta-based rapper shawty lowe, his 11 children and their 10 mothers. and now shawty lowe and his show are sparking outrage. joining me now is sa brabrina l author of the site worldofmoney.org. she's launched a petition to get this show canceled. sabrina, good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> so 30,000 people have signed your petition. what are they saying? what are you saying about this show? >> well, together with the diverse coalition from the parent television council, paul porter, the odyssey project, from around the country, around

the world, they're saying say no to shawty lo because this -- this debacle, it's not -- it's an offensive debacle because number one -- and i wish someone would break this news -- the term "babies' mamas" is a slur. it is a slur against the honored position of being a mother. and casting the child as if they were a mistake, like oops. this particular musician talks about publicly that, you know, he didn't use condoms. and so this network that we are launching this protest, we're demanding that they never air it it positioned to send a dangerous message as if these women are not honored women, and that they continue to use unprotected sex to bring children that they don't treasure, that they don't value. and we're saying -- and this is different than all the other

trash that's on television in the so-called reality genre -- we're saying children don't deserve to participate or witness your chaos, your determined chaos. they deserve to have a mother and father who brings them into the world and not witness you call each other babies' mamas and fight over who gets school supplies and what you decided your life to be as what we're going to tweet and gossip about and who's going to get school supplies and who's going to get financial support. >> well, i will say that the rapper in question, he's now speaking out about the controversy, in large part because of your petition, i suspect. here's part of what he had to say in an interview with a new york radio station, hot 97. let's listen. >> i've been hearing a lot of people, like, saying talking about me and my kids or whatever, but like i said, there's a lot of fathers who don't take care of one. i take care of 11. i'm hands-on with my kids, you

know, before people were even talking about a show, before a show or after a show. just check my instagram. i'm hands-on with my kids. >> he's saying he's responsible. >> carol, let's just keep this real. he doesn't need a reality show. he needs a step-by-step on how to use condoms and therapy. no show for shawty lo, seriously. because what this network, oxygen media, is determined to do is to send these messages to their young, diverse female audience that it's okay to have unprotected sex. it's okay to have children out of wedlock. it's okay to not own your body. it's okay to fight each other for crumbs, for emotional and financial crumbs. when you say you take care of your kids, you honor their mother, and you don't honor their mother by calling them babies' mamas. he's publicly saying, well, my

baby's mama, she's got two by me. excuse me, is this immaculate conception? you made a choice to conceive a blessing. i wish our children -- i wish our children would, in this society, in this country, would be considered the sacred beings that they are. i'm hearing from children that say we'll be adults. have standards for us. we're tired of witnessing your chaos. >> wait a second. wait a second. i have to interrupt, although i'm enjoying your passion, believe me, i'm enjoying your passion, but i have to get this statement from the oxygen network that's planning to air this show. >> and i have a response to that. >> okay, good. i suspected you would. it says, "oxygen's one-hour special in development is not meant to be a stereotypical representation of everyday life for any one demographic or cross-section of society. it is a look at one unique family and their complicated, intertwined life. oxygen media's diverse team of creative executives will

continue developing the show with this point of view." you know, i just hate when they say "diverse team." >> exactly. >> so that gives it an excuse to be okay? >> exactly. i would like to meet the team of diverse executives. and also, you know, i don't think that birth of the nation, you know that film, meant to be stereotypical, but it was. i feel like i'm in a scene out of robert townsend's film "bamboozle" where they thought this was a good idea. we've crossed the line here. as i was prepared to say, adults, if you want to act a fool on television, go at it. when you bring children in it, innocent beings who do not have to participate or should not have to witness your chaos and then you expect something else from them in terms of being, you know, self-reliant, self-confident beings, loving beings, then you're going to hear from the world. and so this is no longer my petition.

no longer my petition. it's the world's petition that they say no to shawty lo. >> all right. sabrina lamb, thank you so much. change.org if you want to participate. and just as an aside, the oxygen network has now pulled clips of that show from youtube and from its website. so sabrina, your passion's getting through. we'll be right back.

this winter day is usually an exciting time for baseball fans. the results of the hall of fame voting are in. but there's a good chance no one's name will be announced this afternoon, and yes, you can blame the steroids era. roger clemens and barry bonds are on the ballot for the first time. and even though neither failed a steroid test, neither has been able to shake off the whiff of peds. lance williams is a senior reporter at the center for -- is at the center of investigative reporter. he wrote about bonds and the balco scandal in a book. good morning, lance. >> good morning. >> i think i've read your book three times. it's a fabulous book. >> bless your heart. >> oh, it's a great book. you know everything there is to know about barry bonds and steroids. do you think he'll get in today? >> well, the polling that a.p. did suggests he won't get half the votes. he needs 75%.

it's solely attributable, of course, to the steroid issue because if you took that off the table, he'd be one of the greatest players who ever lived. >> should that matter? should that enter into it? >> well, each sport confronts this issue differently. if we were in cycling or olympic sports, we wouldn't be talking about putting barry bonds and roger clemens in the hall of fame. they would be taking their records away from them. but that's not the way baseball rolls, if you can put it that way. they have not addressed steroids in the same way. >> in your book, i mean, there's so much evidence that you gathered against barry bonds to prove that he actually did use steroids. but he went through a court procedure. he was found guilty of obstruction of justice. not for taking steroids of any kind. so as you paid attention to that trial, you know, what do you think?

>> well, reality and admissible evidence are two different things. and that's just the way our criminal justice system rolls. in the trial. important evidence of bonds' steroid use was ruled by the judge as not fit for the jury to hear about. and so you had positive steroid tests done privately at the balco drug lab for bonds. you had other documentary evidence, calendars tracking his doping that the judge rouled wa not competent evidence. that's our system, but, you know, what's actually going on and what reality is, we don't fact find by the same rules as the courts do. if you step back and look at the evidence, there's no question that he used banned drugs. and, of course, he's never really stepped up and given an explanation for the changes in

his body or the association with the steroid dealers and so forth that are part of the story here. >> short answer, because we're running out of time, i just wondered if barry bonds does make it into the hall of fame, in your mind, what does that say about baseball? >> well, baseball continues to harm itself by not finding a way to deal with the steroid era. pretending it didn't happen isn't a way to deal with it. it seems to me if you want to let these guys in, maybe if they admit it, maybe if you explain the context of the era when many people are using drugs, if you want to honor them in that way, that's okay. but to simply pretend that drug use didn't exist and a red flag on him, i don't think it's good for the game long term. other fans may feel differently. >> i think many fans probably are on your side. lance williams, thank you so much for joining us this morning. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining me today. "cnn newsroom" continues with ashleigh band